Full SWTOR Companion List

each class will be able to get a total of 5 companions through out the game. Each companion will be able to do different types of damage or play different roles in a group. Each companion will also give different bonuses to your crew skills.

Know your lore

Star Wars is an expansive universe. You' will be playing the game, you will be fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Here we make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind Star Wars: the old republic

Tips, tricks and knowledge from SWTOR Beta

With more people playing SWTOR beta and game testing now, we are seeing more info coming out about it. While these players are still bound to the NDA, it is to be expected that some general knowledge will come out about the game.

How to Create a SWTOR Guild In-Game.

If you will be playing SWTOR with a group of friends, it makes sense to form up your own guild so you can all play together and take advantage of any guild perks and benefits right from the start. Here is how to

Complete Datacron Location List

Datacrons are part of the codex system in Star Wars The Old Republic. They are placed throughout the worlds for the players to find, usually in hard to reach places. As a reward for this exploration ingenuity, if a player successfully reachs and interacts with certain datacrons, one of the player's character stats will be increased -- permanently. Here is the complete list of Datacrons, rrdered by codex entry #

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sarlacc Enforcer, Devourer of Injustice





It's april fools day, and Bioware has a great one for us - Sarlacc Enforcer, Devourer of Injustice

Think you’ve seen all the playable classes in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™? Think again! We’ve saved the best for last! Now you can realize your fantasy of playing as a Sarlacc Enforcer in Star Wars: The Old Republic!

For thousands of years, the brave souls who answer to the name Sarlacc have been the ultimate authority on final judgment in the galaxy. A perfect combination of ruthless efficiency and calculated precision, the Sarlacc Enforcers make sure the galaxy’s trash doesn’t have a chance to pile up.

Access the latest HoloNet entry now to see a full profile of the deadly Sarlacc Enforcer, including combat footage of the Sarlaccs in action!




From the holonet I can read that this is my type of class ;)

Patient, Calculating, & Elusive

The galaxy is filled with every sort of riffraff, refuse and space trash imaginable. For thousands of years the brave souls who answer to the name Sarlacc have made sure it doesn’t pile up. As deadly as they are misunderstood, these determined individuals are the ultimate authorities on final judgment in the galaxy. A new definition of pain is waiting for anyone who would dare cross one.

Contrary to popular belief, a Sarlacc is much more than an extreme omnivore – a misconception the cunning Sarlacc have been exploiting for thousands of years. Frequently, a Sarlacc will act as a mercenary-for-hire, contracting their services – and their tentacles – to underground groups needing extra muscle. Occasionally, one will pose as a trophy pet of an egotistical Hutt gangster, capitalizing on the perfect disguise as they zero in on their targets.

But the Sarlacc aren’t just opportunistic scavengers waiting for a free lunch; they are paragons of patience and planning, always waiting for the right moment to pounce on their quarry – even if it takes one thousand years. A Sarlacc has no trouble keeping their sights on a target that has long since forgotten them. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and no one serves this dish better than a Sarlacc.

Professional Courtesies

Most Sarlacc have learned more about the galaxy than most other professionals could hope to learn in ten human lifetimes. Not only has an average Sarlacc done everything under the double suns, many techniques that are synonymous with other professionals were innovated and perfected by a cunning, resourceful Sarlacc.

Every Smuggler knows that one dropped shipment could lose him respect – and a year’s worth of credits, but only the insane would search for contraband cleverly stashed in the belly of a Sarlacc. Imperial Agents breaking the will of interrogated prisoners rely heavily on techniques handed down to them by the Sarlacc – who are known to telepathically torture information out of their most reticent victims. Jedi Knights train for years to master The Way of the Sarlacc, Shii-Cho Lightsaber form as the foundation of their amazing combat prowess. Consulars of the Jedi Order spend long hours meditating on Sarlacc to develop the dissonant serenity that keeps them calm in the midst of chaos. Bounty Hunters – a Sarlacc delicacy – have perhaps benefitted most from developing contacts in the Sarlacc Underground; it is here that hunting and trapping are brought to new heights and Bounty Hunters learn to become great, or die. No team would have the skills it needs to survive its mission without the practice and invention of a dedicated Sarlacc.


And their is more:

Field Reconnaissance

Traditional wisdom dictates that to lessen the chances of a run-in with a Sarlacc you need only avoid remote sandy places with big holes in the ground (e.g. the Great Pit of Carkoon). As the Sarlacc feel the pain and pressure brought by the Great War, many of them are taking more active roles in galactic affairs. In this age a careful observer may notice a Sarlacc doing population control to help maintain the balance of a fragile Outer Rim ecosystem, arbitrating treaty disputes, and lobbying for a dock workers guild in the Galactic Senate. There has been some speculation that Sarlaccs have an innate Force sensitivity, however because of their extreme age, none have been considered trainable by either the Jedi or the Sith. Collectively, they may represent an unallied sect of Force users.



Tuesday, March 30, 2010

BioWare's Countdown Clock Reveals the BioWare Bazaar



About a week ago, BioWare launched a new countdown clock on their site that has had gamers watching it patiently to see what exactly it means. The countdown is officially over as of 12:00pm EST today and the big secret revealed by the countdown is the new BioWare Bazaar, a series of week-long mock online auctions that will begin on April 6th, 2010. In order to bid on the more than 400 items ranging from custom Alienware laptops to BioWare apparel, and much more, fans will need to collect tokens through various challenges to acquire tokens for bidding. The first auction is scheduled to begin at Tuesday, April 6th at 9:00am PST. New items will be made available every 15 minutes from there. The auction series will end at 4:00pm PST on Saturday, April 10th, 2010. What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more.

SW:TOR Community Manager Responds to XBox 360 Rumor


Yesterday a rumor surfaced that Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR) could possibly be heading to the XBox 360 according to a new internal Xbox 360 release list acquired by VG247. The list details scheduled for release next year, but the most curious entry is near the bottom of the document that states SW:TOR on the Xbox 360 list marked with TBC-2011 release. However, it looks like for the moment the rumor is just that, despite the information in the document. SW:TOR Community Manager Sean "Ashen Temper" Dahlberg responded to the discussion on the official SW:TOR forums, emphasizing that SW:TOR is being developed for the PC with Windows as an operating system at this time.

I know many of you have heard this before but I'll go ahead and reiterate it for those of you who may be new:

Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently being developed for the personal computer (PC) using the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. While we recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today, our development is specific to the personal computer using the Windows operating system at this time.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Sign up for our newsletter!




Hey its Clayton here.. I just want to say that just a few days ago we set up a newsletter just for YOU.

Here's what you'll get:

-The latest and best Swtor news and updates

-A bunch of cool stuff including a free swtor eBook/handbook that Soren and I are putting together

-Subscriber-only content

and much more...

So just put your first name and your email address in the signup form on the right and send us feedback on anything that you would like to tell us about!

Thanks again (P.S, our Facebook page is almost at 5,000 fans thanks to all of you!)

-Clayton

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Know your lore: T3-M4


T3-M4 (also called Teethree for short) was a T3-series utility droid built as a master slicer for crime lord Davik Kang. His life of crime was short-lived, however, after Taris was bombarded by the Sith and Davik was killed. He then accompanied Revan on his search for the Star Forge.

Sometime after defeating Darth Malak, Revan left for the Unknown Regions, leaving T3-M4 with the Ebon Hawk. The droid then used the ship to rescue the Jedi Exile from Darth Sion, and aided her in her quest to stop the Sith Triumvirate.

Biography

Travels with Revan
T3-M4 was a late-prototype model of the T3-series utility droid, built on Taris by Janice Nall for the local crime lord Davik Kang in 3,956 BBY. The droid was top-of-the-range for its time, and featured exceptional code-breaking and computer slicing skills, in addition to being able to mount armor and weapon upgrades. T3-M4's original purpose was to aid Canderous Ordo in breaking into a Sith military base on Taris for Davik Kang. Revan, under the advice of Canderous, assisted in stealing the launch codes from the base and the motley group managed to escape the planet without being vaporized by the Sith blockade.

When the Ebon Hawk, Davik's most appreciated light freighter, came into Revan's possession, T3 accompanied its crew for the rest of their journey, eventually being taken by Revan to the borders of the Unknown Regions. Before this, however, T3 was given special instructions by Bastila Shan, another of Revan's companions. Under this programming, if T3 lost contact with Revan, he would return to Republic space and contact her.

Travels with the Jedi Exile
Following these instructions, T3-M4 resurfaced five years after the end of the Jedi Civil War when the Ebon Hawk returned to known space. Unable to find Bastila, he instead sought to find the Jedi Exile because of her history with Revan. Onboard the heavily damaged Ebon Hawk, T3-M4 found the droid 3C-FD, and both were instrumental in repairing and getting the ship to the Peragus mining facility while all the other crew members were incapacitated.



When the Exile awakened in the medical bay of the mining facility, T3-M4 helped her gain access to the Peragus fuel depot before being found and disabled by the HK-50 droid and dumped in a fuel line, only to be discovered by the Exile and Atton Rand as they made their escape from the facility.

After the Jedi Exile and the others escaped from the Peragus system on the Ebon Hawk, they were forced to refuge to Telos IV, where they were detained at Citadel Station. Atris had the impounded Ebon Hawk stolen from Citadel Station and moved to her Jedi academy in the polar region of Telos. T3-M4 was detained with the ship, and was thus also taken by Atris. At Atris's academy, his memory banks were downloaded by Atris's Handmaidens. The link between the academy's computer and T3-M4 worked both ways, however, and the droid was able to download a holorecording of the Exile's trial before the Jedi Council and a list of the locations of the remaining Jedi Masters.



When the Exile was captured on Nar Shaddaa by Exchange thugs in the employ of Goto, T3-M4 once again came to the rescue. With the aid of The Champ, a Chadra-Fan Pazaak player, the droid was "sold" to Vogga the Hutt and sent to work in his shipping warehouse. Goto had been intercepting all of Vogga's shipping by following his transports transponder codes. The freighters would be captured by Goto's droid yacht, which was cloaked in orbit. To find and infiltrate the yacht, T3-M4 stole the transponder codes for one of Vogga's freighters and fought his way out of the warehouse when three HK-50 assassin droids tried to stop him. The Ebon Hawk's codes were then changed to match the freighter, and Goto's yacht intercepted the ship as planned, allowing for the rescue of the Exile and the destruction of the cloaked yacht.

T3 firing his blaster.

During the Exile's journeys, T3-M4 was responsible for the Ebon Hawk's navigation, as he alone could access the navigation records of the ship due to a voice-printed lockout. Presumably, they had been locked by Revan to hide his destination. Eventually, after the destruction of Malachor V—Revan's last known location—along with its Sith academy, the droid fulfilled his final mission by guiding the Ebon Hawk into the Unknown Regions. The Exile and T3-M4 left explored space together.

T3-M4 had many abilities and was fully deserving of the moniker of 'utility droid'. Having never had a memory wipe, he developed a personality and quirks. There is evidence that he was even resistant to memory wipes: if another droid attempted to erase T3-M4's memory, T3 could replicate the other droid's numeric matrices, slice into its system, and short-circuit that droid instead.

T3-M4 could make security and computer spikes and could turn himself into a makeshift workbench which the Jedi Exile used to upgrade or take apart objects in the field. He utilized weapons, such as blasters and disruptors, as well as one of many types of flame-throwers, scramblers, and shock arms. He could be easily fitted with many types of droid armor and other miscellaneous upgrades. The droid was also a master of computer and security slicing.

This article uses material from the "T3-M4" article on the Star Wars wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

Friday, March 26, 2010

While we wait for The Old Republic: Immolation



Set during the Great Jedi Civil War, a Sith apprentice is on the run from the Brotherhood, after failing his most important test. A young Jedi Sentinel is drawn by the Force to seek out the failed Sith apprentice, and tracks him to the snowy world Ziost. Can he reach the him before he is destoyed by the Sith trackers?



Download the HQ version of this film at:

immolationmovie.com or
kuatengineer.webs.com

This film takes place during the ero of Knights of the Old Republic...

During the apex of Sith power during the great Jedi Civil War, just before infighting tore the Sith Order apart, a young recruit was apprenticed to lead a life with the Brotherhood that he had not fully embraced. Failing his last and most important trial, the Brotherhood deemed him unfit to be Sith and hunted him to a snowy training world inside Sith Space to exterminate him; to make him an example of those who fail.

An overachieving young Jedi Sentinel, 3 years beyond his apprenticeship sees through the Living Force that not all is what it seems with this apprentice. As a Sentinel continually seeks the truth, so does this young Knight, at the protest of the Council. Yet his impeccable service record allows him enough leeway to pursue the truth of this hunt.

Through the Force and his own reconnaissance skills, he finds the fleeing apprentice on this cold, snowy world. Though encountering resistance, he ultimately uncovers a revelation that compels him to track and intercept the apprentice before he himself is intercepted by the Sith Platoon that hunts their prey. The apprentice must meet his judgment and decide to accept his death or fight amongst his brothers.

HoloNet offers new character biographies


SW:TOR HoloNet offers new character biographies. .

Have you ever wondered who some of those characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic's Deceived trailer or the Threat of Peace comics are? With the latest release from BioWare you can find out. The HoloNet has been updated with new biographies for several characters that will be expanded over time. For now, you can get a look at some of the biographical profiles of Grand Moff Kilran, Nem'Ro The Hutt, and Grand Master Satele Shan.


Curious about some of the characters you’ve seen in Threat of Peace™, the Developer Walkthrough, or the “Deceived” cinematic trailer? Now you can find out all about them!

We are thrilled to introduce a new expansion to our HoloNet archives: Biographies! Now you can view profiles of several of the galaxy’s most notable figures. Each entry highlights someone you may meet, travel with, or fight alongside or against as you help determine the future of the galaxy in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!

Just like the Classes, Planets, and Timelines sections, the Biographies archives will be expanded regularly, so check back often to make sure you get the latest updates!

Smuggler's Vanguard


The first update today is the release of a short story by Robert Chestney named "Smuggler's Vanguard", giving a closer look at one of the characters from the Timeline. Here's the official news:
Get a closer look at one of the most popular characters from the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Timeline series. Hylo Visz, the daring Mirialan pilot who broke the Mandalorian Blockade, is the protagonist in a new short story published on StarWars.com. Written by BioWare’s Robert Chestney, ‘Smuggler’s Vanguard’ tells a story from Hylo’s past, when she was contracting on a high profile job for the Hutt crime cartel. Caught between two of the Hutts’ most brutish goons and a suspicious Corellian corporation, Hylo is forced to rely on her instincts and her luck to squirm out of a difficult situation and find a way to profit against the odds.

Check out ‘Smuggler’s Vanguard’ on StarWars.com now!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Star Wars Vs Star Trek Essay


Listen to this kid. He is a Genius. He really knows what he is talking about. I hope he got an A+

This is not the Game Tester Login page that you are looking for...





Sean Dahlberg
posted on the forum in regards to the "hidden launch website", confirming that it is indeed a game tester login page:
You have indeed found the login portal for Game Testing. That said, this is not a new page and we are not ready to make any additional announcements about our Game Testing Program. When we are ready, we will make sure The Old Republic Community is the first to know!

If you haven’t signed up yet to be a tester or wish to learn more, access our Game Testing Portal.
And a little later he posted some more answers:
A couple of quick answers:
  • Yes, it is indeed called the Game Testing Program and not anything else. As when we originally announced sign-ups, Game testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic will be rolled out in several phases over an extended period of time. These test phases will begin with smaller, tightly focused test groups, and later tests will expand.
  • We thought about waiting until it hit 2,000 posts but figured it was more important to get the information to you sooner than wait.
  • Good insight, Skyewauker.
  • In regards to swtor.bioware.com, just know that we'll always keep the TOR Community updated here
  • I would have posted the announcement sooner but I spent too much time working on this (not really).
The site has probably been around for a while, maybe as they were working on setting up the portal in advance, maybe for running demos at conferences and for publishers and such, or maybe for internal testing. Either way it'll likely be what's going to be used by beta testers and such as well. But with the launch at least a year away it'll probably take a while before they open it up to the first players.

Launch site for SWTOR?




I read a story this morning and it looks like some members of the swtor forum have found a "launch site" for SWTOR! The link can be found below.. You have to login with your account information and when you login there will be a message in red that says "No game servers are currently available for play." This is obviously going to be the site where the beta will be played :-)

This is super exciting to all of us who have been waiting for the beta and for the launch of next year.. This site proves to us that they are making more and more progress with the game... They're setting up the servers and getting everything ready for a nearing beta launch and we will possibly hear an official launch date very soon :-)



So what do YOU think that this could mean? Leave your comments below!

This is only good news for us swtor fans! Just remember that patience is a virtue, and I am sure there are plenty more fun and exciting updates that will be coming out very soon.. So stay tuned for our blog posts, and we'll chat with you all later!

Possible SWTOR launch site >>> http://launch.swtor.com/

Cool article that we found this info on >>> http://massively.com/

Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Daniel Erickson shares more insight on the Sith



Mondays story about Star Wars: The Old Republic writer Daniel Erickson's explanation of how someone writes for the Sith Empire sparked a huge amount of discussion on the official forums.

There was so much discussion in fact, that Daniel Erickson took to the official forums to further explain his reasoning and thought process behind writing from the Empire's point of view.


Of the conversation occurring across the official forums, Erickson had to say, "An interesting thread. I always like to see what responses the philosophical discussions provoke. Hopefully people noticed that there were no quotes from me saying the Sith were good -- even the interviewer ended on it being an excuse to unleash ones hate." After that intro, Erickson goes on to deftly explain the complexities behind writing for ostensibly the "evil side" in a manner that makes them more than dastardly villains with cape and cane. It's a short, but very good read and we highly recommend it for anyone with even a passing interest in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
:

If you were raised in a culture that believed that an all-knowing god chose one man to rule over all others and passed that right through their bloodline, it would not seem odd, evil or tyrannical to you that there was, in fact, a king who fulfilled that role. Similarly if you were raised to think an entire group of people were marked as superior by their abilities (the Force in the case of the Empire) as to be above the law in the same way it would seem as natural as the aristocracy did for thousands of years of human history. If you were one of those privileged people and were taught to embrace your most base emotions, to take whatever you could grab by strength of arms or scheme and wit, that it was your ambition and lack of restraint that brought you freedom and purity

You see where I'm going with this. Its important to realize that while no amount of a dark side embracing Sith justifying himself to us (if for some reason you could get one to deign to do so) would convince us that he was a good person (he is after all pro-hate and pro-murder along with being anti-restraint), he does not see himself through our filter or he could not be who he is. Nor does the Empire as a whole see itself as the Republic sees it. If it did any stories told from that side would lack depth or compelling drama. "So, Darth Evil, it seems like were in the wrong here..." "Yes, Admiral. We are. Were very bad people. My mother is extremely disappointed in me."

Storytelling is about conflict and the conflict between ideologies and cultural perspective gives us some of the richest material to work from.


Monday, March 22, 2010

May the schwartz be with you: Darth Vader Feels Blue


Have you ever wondered what Anakin Skywalker had underneath that Darth Vader mask of his? Well, this video will reveal all the wonders of that unanswered question...

This is a touching moment between father and son as Darth Vader demonstrates a talent to Luke that didn't come from the force. Vader has some blues in him and plays his built in harmonica beautifully.

Watch as Darth Va­der busts in­to a blu­es jam right in the mid­dle of a dra­ma­tic sce­ne..

video

Genocide and Jedi: why the Sith may be right in Old Republic





arstechnic has a great interview with Daniel Erickson about who the real bad guys are in Star Wars:

"The one thing you're never going to hear is 'make the bad guys less interesting.'"

I'm sitting in an out-of-the-way room of Lucasarts with Daniel Erickson, who keeps swinging back to one topic: why the people we've come to hate in the Star Wars universe act as they do. He's given this some thought; as the lead writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Star Wars MMO, it's his job to help tell both sides of the story.

In our time together we discuss the extended universe, he makes the case for Grand Admiral Thrawn, and explains how the Jedi attempted genocide... and why the Sith may just be right.

While we're on the topic of the extended universe, he brings up the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. "Thrawn is a huge inspiration to me. The insight into the people dealing with the heroes," Erickson says. He puffs out his chest slightly, and changes his voice to speak like Thrawn. "Why are these people resisting order, and regulation. The galaxy was at war—it was a horrid place before. Is it really not enough to have order? You need everything? You're acting like children!" In other words: who needs freedom when there is order?

Another key note comes from the story of EXar Kun: "If you give brash young people almost god-like powers and ask them to behave... you're asking for problems. You're dealing with someone in their early twenties, who has never been able to be thwarted by anything, and you tell them not to play with these Sith artifacts—of course they're going to think they can handle it."

Erickson leans forward to make the point. "You're training children to deal with this power, and then demanding them to be incorruptible, and holding them to a standard that we don't even ask from any of our own societies. We looked at these issues and said, 'We could come up with an entire thematic run with this.'"

Why the Jedi were wrong

The most important aspect in telling this story, in the era of the Old Republic, was to dive deeper into the world of the Sith. "The thing that came up first was deciding how we were going to present the Sith and the Empire. And then really spending the time to make sure we were creating people and a culture, not two-dimensional villains. We had to start from the basics: why are they like this."

There were hints of what happened between the Jedi and the Sith in the formative years of the Force. While the Force itself always existed, learning how to use it, and how to train others to use it, took time. "The Force was developed on Tython, discovered by these pre-Jedi philosophers. They came into conflict about what it means and how it should be addressed." Erickson explains. This conflict split the people in two. "What the Jedi call the Dark Side, and what came to be known as the Dark Side, these people believed that life should be about emotion. They believed you should be unrestrained, that the galaxy wants us to love and lust and kill and make art and cry and dream..." he trails off. I imagine him sitting on a throne, lightsaber under his right hand. This conversation started as two Star Wars fans chatting about the expanded universe, but now I'm starting to understand the draw of the Sith.

What happened to these hedonistic followers of the Force? "They get chased out of the galaxy. In fact, in the lore, chased to the point where the Jedi believe they are dead. This is very close to genocide! The Jedi believe these people to be unredeemable."

He points out that we've only be presented one side of the story. If you grew up among these people, you have a very different story. "You know there is an Emperor, and that he saved your people's very existence, and there is a society out there larger than you, who deemed your people and your religion not worthy to exist."

The story is in good hands

We were given a hands-on with the game, but what Erickson said kept running through my head during GDC. Did he really just convince me that the Sith were the good guys in all this? Growing up, being taught to understand and explore our emotions and passions, and then being told this monk-like order had hunted my people to near extinction... it's easy to see the attraction to taking up your blaster or lightsaber against their order.

In other words, to give into your hate.



You can read the whole article here

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Know your lore: Jolee Bindo


Jolee Bindo was a Human Jedi who participated in the Rimward missions, fought in the Great Sith War against Exar Kun, and went into self-imposed exile on Kashyyyk soon afterwards. Near the close of the Jedi Civil War, he joined Revan against Darth Malak and was awarded the Cross of Glory for his part in the triumph of the Galactic Republic over the Sith Empire.

Biography



Life as a Padawan
During his days as a Jedi Padawan, Jolee was considered brash and reckless, often defying the will of the Jedi Council in order to do what he felt was right, as exemplified by his actions during the blockade of the Ukatis system.

Cut off from the rest of the galaxy by its own king, the Ukatis system was unable to receive food and supplies, and no help from the Senate was forthcoming. Jolee decided to help the people himself. He acquired a ship and was joined by a friend. Together they stole from the rich, considering it a "tax on the greedy," and ran the supplies through the blockade to the planet.

Eventually, his craft was shot down on the planet by no less than his future wife, Nayama, and the two were married, although marriage was frowned upon by many Jedi of the time. He discovered her to be strong in the Force, and he took to training her personally despite the advice of the Jedi Council and his Padawan status.

During the war with Exar Kun, his wife, like many other Jedi, fell to the dark side. She attempted to turn Jolee, who resisted, culminating in a vicious lightsaber duel which brought her to her knees. Jolee was unable to kill his own wife, and let her go. To his shame, she went on to kill many Jedi in the war. Eventually, she was killed in the last battle. This was an extremely sensitive topic for Jolee, who believed that he was unlucky in his life and just had, "So many bad memories, some you never want to think about ever again." In fact, it took much prodding and questioning by Revan to extract any information about his wife at all, much less the entire story.

The Council did not punish Jolee for his actions, though, stating he had learned his lesson the hard way. When instead they wished to promote him to the status of Jedi Knight, Jolee lost faith in the wisdom of the Council, and went into self-exile.




Exile on Kashyyyk
After spending a year in the home of his good friend Sunry, Jolee took to wandering the stars. He drifted for years, keeping employed when necessary. For a time he even took up smuggling, and he was not above using a Jedi mind trick to get past customs.

Jolee Bindo using Beast Control on a creature on Kashyyyk.

Eventually he crashed on Kashyyyk, and remained exploring the Shadowlands for the next twenty years. At first, the Wookiees believed him to be a benevolent forest spirit, calling him "the hairless one", and so left gifts and fruits outside of his dwelling, until the old hermit explained the truth to them, albeit with some embarrassment, as he was knocked out cold by Freyyr. Still, Jolee remained a friend of the Wookiees, helping them protect the Shadowlands and its wildlife from poachers. He often wandered through the forest, ready to defend himself from predators, sentient or not, with his lightsaber.

Late during his wandering, he discovered an ancient computer guarding a Star Map, and ended up making 152 attempts to communicate with it; however, the computer had been secretly reprogrammed by Revan, during his first trip to Kashyyyk with Darth Malak, to respond to nobody but himself.

Journey and friendship with Revan
When Revan passed through the Shadowlands a second time, once more seeking Star Maps, he encountered Jolee, who was fighting off a pack of Katarns. Jolee attached himself to the party, partly out of boredom and partly to face his own past. He was one of the few members of the party to know Revan's true identity all along, although he decided it was not his place to say. As he traveled with Revan, he was often reminded of an old friend, Nomi Sunrider, whom he had known during his time as a Jedi.

At one point, Revan questioned Jolee as to why the old man had accompanied him. Jolee's responded by relating the story of a man who followed a snake, only to be bitten and killed by it. When questioned about his motives by the snake, the man replied that he had been leading the snake away from his village. Revan could only puzzle over what his role in relation to the story was.



Jolee's professed neutrality, already belied by joining Revan, was rendered further questionable when Revan landed on Rakata Prime, the home planet of the Rakata. When the Rakatan priest caste allowed Revan into the Temple of the Ancients to disable the Star Forge's disruptor field, they insisted on him going into the temple alone.

Jolee, however, persuaded the priests to allow him and fellow Knight Juhani to accompany Revan, and it turned out to be a useful measure: Jolee and Juhani restrained Revan from being once again seduced to the dark side, this time by Bastila Shan.

Jolee remained with Revan until the end, and along with Revan's other companions, was honored at the Republic's celebration of their victory over Darth Malak.

It is, as of yet, unknown if Jolee survived the First Jedi Purge, was struck down by the assassins of the Sith Triumvirate, or was consumed with the rest of the Jedi by Darth Nihilus on Katarr. While several articles of clothing believed to have once belonged to Jolee are known to have been in circulation at that time, they were not in his possession when he joined up with Revan.



Personality and traits
Even during his days with the Order, Jolee allowed emotion to drive his actions, and thus walked a fine line between the light and dark sides of the Force, claiming that he saw "only in gray." Despite his view, Jolee clearly believed that there was evil in the galaxy, as witnessed during the fall of his wife to the dark side as well as his experiences during his time in the Ukatis System. Likewise, Jolee's "gray" view didn't stop him from having a stable position against the Sith, and being a good man throughout his life.

He appeared as a cantankerous old man who readily dismissed the galaxy and its troubles with an impatient wave of his hand. Bindo appeared to outsiders as a grumpy old man, directing his scorn at both the young and old alike, but his care and wisdom still shone through the many layers he draped around his heart.

He insisted that all he wanted was peace, and yet he was drawn back to war when Revan arrived in the Shadowlands for a second time. Jolee sensed a powerful destiny ahead of Revan, though he insisted that he was simply along for the ride. Even when Bastila insisted that Jolee was a Jedi and needed the Order's structure, he waved her off, saying he had done plenty well without it.



Likewise, he cautioned Carth's insistence that the universe would be irreparably changed should Malak succeed in collapsing the Republic. "Heroes and tyrants rise and fall, and historians sort out the pieces… don't go thinking that this war—your war—is any more important than any other war simply because you're in it."

Jolee was prone to speaking in story and allegory, with a sense of humor that was wickedly sarcastic and more than a bit self-derisive. In addition to the snake story, he told the tale about a Jedi Master named Hortath (or possibly Hartoth, according to Jolee's own memory), who was blind and refused to believe he was, who met a Padawan who asked him for directions, not knowing that Hortath was blind. He followed the master's incorrect direction unthinkingly, and a Council who may have covered up for the blind master out of their own blind adherence to rank. Even his tale about Andor Vex was a cautionary tale intended to get Revan looking at the potential for folly. Still, he never considered himself Revan's teacher in any form. "Don't coddle me, child, I'm neither a Jedi or your master. I'm just an old man who's been lost in the woods for far too long."

In his various conversations with Revan, Jolee appeared to stay on topic, at least for a little while, before (seemingly) randomly moving off into one of many various memories of someone he encountered or heard of as a Jedi Padawan in the Order, such as that of Hortath or Andor Vex (above). When asked the moral or meaning of these stories, he usually gave an answer similar to, "Someone my age is entitled to ramble, dammit!" Revan never really knew if there was a meaning to these stories, though they did keep him moderately entertained.

Powers and abilities
Despite the fact that he followed the Jedi way and used the Force, Jolee did not consider himself part of the Order because of his history, or rather due to the fact that the Order had failed him. He never officially progressed beyond the rank of Padawan, although he explained to Revan once that he was to be knighted before he went into exile. His time in the Shadowlands only enhanced his survival skills. He had even learned to craft medicine from simple herbs, without any access to kolto or medical supplies. He could also speak Huttese.

Physically, despite his age, Jolee's time living in the dangerous Shadowlands kept his body in shape and nimble and saw him into dangerous situations on a regular basis. Even though lightsaber combat was not his primary strength compared to his command of the Force, the very first time he talked to Revan, several katarns had fallen to his lightsaber.


In their travels, Jolee would display his signature talent for Jedi Mind tricks, something he thought could serve them well when Admiral Saul Karath ambushed them, if he was going to be their Leviathan Prison Break agent.

He possessed a unique personality that allowed him to command the Force through both its light and dark sides. Lack of records have made it impossible to know the specific extent of Jolee's powers, but he could have potentially mastered dark arts such as Force lightning as easily as any other power, which would have been nearly unthinkable for most light-sided Jedi of the time. It was possible that his philosophy on controlling his emotions—neither blocking them nor allowing them to control him—that allowed him to draw on the Force as he did without fearing corruption from the dark side.

This article uses material from the "Jolee Bindo" article on the Star Wars wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Is SWTOR worth 2 million users



Yesterday IndustryGamers reported that, according to one analyst, EA are looking to get 2 million subscribers when Star Wars: The Old Republic releases next year.

Many have since speculated that EA needed this amount of subscribers for the game to break eave.

In a genre where only one game has ever exceeded two million subscribers at $15 per month, that's a very high standard to put yourself up against. Then again, we are talking about Star Wars, beloved by geeks the world over. We're also talking about BioWare, who have blown many gamers away with the awesomeness of Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.

Over at massively they discuss this matter in further details. A a really good read I recommend to check out:


Two million is possible worldwide, right?

The other issue that I'm hanging on is the fact that 2 million subscribers is a far fetch for the North American and European markets. The key word in this sentence is subscribers.

While Aion may tout a very significant three million users worldwide and World of Warcraft holds up the 11 million subscribers sign, the Asian market is not full of 15 dollar a month subscribers. As we dislike microtransactions, they dislike a pay per month scheme. Because of this, it's difficult to really put a solid figure on the number of accounts in Asia. Plus, there is also the fact that some of them may never spend the magical $15 per month while others may spend well over that.

World of Warcraft has only hit approximately 2.5 million users in North America, which draws the issue of obtaining two million subscribers into question. We have a market where, right now, 300,000 users is an impressive amount for a game that isn't World of Warcraft. Going from 300,000 users to two million users is a very large divide for a game to conquer.


Check out the full story here

SW:TOR Fan Friday Offers a Look at Facial Markings, Renders, Fan Fiction, and More





As you can see from the image above, this week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Fan Friday brings us a peek at some of the customization options for character heads. We also get to see some fan art, fan fiction, and a short video of some of the force powers of the Sith via a 3D render,

You can see the video below:

Friday, March 19, 2010

GDC 2010 Wrap up




With GDC last week, even though Star Wars: The Old Republic had no specific presence, there were a number of interviews and details popping up all over the web. In particular from the off-site event that LucasArts held where the press got some hands-on time with a Trooper.

Over on the official forums Sean Dahlberg made a post listing a lot of them (some of which I already reported on before):
While there were no panels this year specifically related to The Old Republic during Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2010, there are a few panels that consisted of BioWare developers.

There was also an off-site event specifically for The Old Republic that various press and fan sites were invited to. None of this information will show up till early next week so keep your eyes peeled for that.

We will be updating the list in this post as more articles and threads appear and we plan on having a wrap-up article next Friday.
Check out Star Wars: The Old Republic on X-Play as Adam Sessler covers GDC2010, Wednesday, March 17th @ 6:30 PM ET
He didn't get everything yet though; here's a couple more he missed so far:

EA are looking to get 2 million subscribers for SW:TOR





IndustryGamers reports that, according to one analyst, EA are looking to get 2 million subscribers when Star Wars: The Old Republic releases next year:
Between major successes like Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, BioWare has quickly become one of the most important studios throughout all of Electronic Arts since the publisher acquired the RPG specialists. EA has already indicated that the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO is the "largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company,” and it's quite clear that expectations for this title are huge.

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia recently came away from a meeting with EA and reported that although "earnings are somewhat depressed due to ongoing expenses of the Star Wars MMO, management has high hopes for this and believes 2M+ subs is possible." He added that a little over 1 million subscribers is needed to reach the break-even point, but the ultimate goal is to get several million subscribers.

Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't the only Star Wars MMO in development.





According to GamerVision Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't the only Star Wars MMO in development. They say that "trusted sources" confirm that Sony Online Entertainment is working on a Clone Wars MMO. This is not the first time that we've heard this rumor. Here's what they had to say on it:
Thought EA's The Old Republic was the only Star Wars MMORPG in development? Think again. Trusted Gamervision sources have confirmed that there is a second MMO in development by Sony Online Entertainment, the creators of once awesome, now less-than-awesome Star Wars: Galaxies. Supposedly called Clone Wars Adventures and due by the end of the year, it's to be a browser-based game aimed at a much younger demographic than The Old Republic. Namely pre-teens, the same audience for the popular Clone Wars television show, and far away from those who might even consider subscribing to BioWare's RPG.

So far that's all the information we have, though I'd be surprised if there wasn't an official announcement fairly soon. We're still waiting on details involving the gameplay and pricing model, as any specifics are still unknown, though thinking it's going to be modeled after Free Realms, Sony Online Entertainment's free-to-play online RPG, isn't a stretch. Odds are it will follow a similar pricing model, built on microtransactions instead of a costly monthly subscription. Either way, we expect to hear more information soon, and will be sure to keep you up to date on the other Star Wars MMORPG. Odds are it's going to be much, much different than The Old Republic.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic - Belsavis





Belsavis was a planet in the Ninth Quadrant, which was a region of the Bozhnee sector. Ice-covered, its average temperature was in the -50s. It was located on the Belsavis Run.



History

Old Republic era
At some unknown point in the past, the planet became one of the many worlds that belonged to the Rakata Infinite Empire. During that time, the Rakata made use of the world as a prison colony where they placed many dangerous prisoners that remained trapped for the millennia. It entered an ice age around 5,000 BBY. Its inhabitants dwelt in three volcanic jungle rifts.

During the Great War, the Republic used Belsavis’ prison to confine dangerous Sith lords and war criminals.

Plett's Well, was settled 88 BBY by Jedi Master Plett, and came to be called simply Plawal. The main Republic colonization of the planet occurred 20 BBY, with many plants and animals being imported from Ithor.
Settlements on the icy surface of Belsavis

The bounty hunter Jango Fett was once captured and imprisoned in an underground labyrinth on Belsavis. Although pursued by kretch insects, he managed to escape by figuring out the internal logic of the maze.

In 19 BBY, Plett hid a number of Jedi younglings in Plett's Well from the Great Jedi Purge, but the Galactic Empire sent the Eye of Palpatine to bombard Plawal. Fortunately, Jedi Knights Callista Ming and Geith sabotaged the Eye, but Plett and the Jedi younglings were forced to flee the planet regardless. Some of the younglings, such as Roganda Ismaren, were captured by the Inquisitorius.




Around 6 BBY, the Imperial Governor stationed a few tariff police on the world to deal with increased smuggler activity. Around 0 BBY, Brathflen Corporation and other fruit-companies established domes around the world. At the time of the Battle of Hoth, Mara Jade visited to the world to investigate the rumors of the Jedi fugitives.

New Republic era
In 12 ABY, a large shipment of Tenloss Disintegrator rifles was to be shipped to Belsavis, but the cargo was stolen on Nar Shaddaa. New Republic Intelligence was informed of the thief, but were unsure why the munitions were heading there in the first place.

The planet allied with, but did not join, the New Republic, maintaining independence. Later in 12 ABY, Roganda Ismaren later attempted a coup against the New Republic on Belsavis, attempting to make her son Irek Ismaren the new Emperor with financial backing from treacherous nobles from the neighboring Juvex Sector and Senex Sector, using Irek's abilities with mechu deru to control the Eye. Roganda was foiled by Luke Skywalker, Callista, and Leia Organa Solo.

From the holonet:

Ancient galactic prison

Republic knowledge of Belsavis predates the Great Hyperspace War, but for centuries, the planet warranted little attention. With the exception of some unusual volcanic activity, the planet was deemed, in all ways, unremarkable. Belsavis was added to the star charts then summarily dismissed as nothing more than another curiosity of the Outer Rim.

Fifty years ago, while investigating the planet’s tropical rifts that seemed to defy the ice shelves in completely unnatural ways, Republic scientists stumbled upon an ancient prison constructed by the Rakatan Empire. Behind the force fields and ultra hard metals were the most terrifying prisoners in the galaxy. Republic efforts to explore and secure the dilapidated network of vaults were impeded by ferocious alien species, and nearly unstoppable droids.

Realizing it was only a matter of time before the vaults and stasis chambers containing the worst of these prisoners failed, the Republic committed a force to maintain the complex, and establish a new Republic prison on Belsavis’ unused surface. In secret Strategic Information Service meetings it was decided that this new prison, dubbed “the Tomb”, was only to be used in cases where execution was impractical or impossible.

Once the Great War erupted, the Tomb’s population rapidly increased. Mandalorians, Sith Lords, and creations of Sith alchemy were sent to Belsavis for containment. As rumors of the Tomb’s existence spread, Imperial Intelligence began searching for the legendary super prison. Despite Republic efforts to keep its location a secret, the Empire learned of the operation on Belsavis and sent strike teams to liberate all the imprisoned Sith.

In the short time since the Imperials arrived, the prison grounds have been transformed into a labyrinth of battle and chaos. The Empire has discovered that extracting its loyal subjects from among their violent fellow inmates will not be easy, and even though the Republic is rushing to restore order, the threat of the mysterious evil breaking loose from its ancient prison is becoming all too real.



This article uses material from the "Belsavis" article on the Star Wars wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

IGN Video Interview with Daniel Erickson



It's fairly brief at two-and-a-half minutes and has Daniel Erickson talk a little about the Trooper.

"A lot more of the game, really soon" is what caught my attention most, though that's probably referring to E3.


[link] to video interview with Daniel Erickson at IGN.

Monday, March 15, 2010

SWTOR Hands On @ GDC


The Game Developers Conference was held last week and several sites had an opportunity to get a “hands on” with Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Both 1UP and Eurogamer were afforded the opportunity to check out the game. Here a couple excerpts from their reactions:

1UP:

Story Driven Experience

When playing a story mission in Star Trek Online, it’s all text delivered through a little dialog box. More times than not, it’s usually an alien race harassing a Federation colony, and you need to step in and blast them out of the stars. From the little that we’ve seen of The Old Republic so far, this much is certain: you will have many different story arcs available to your character available out of the box on day one. Recently we saw some of this in action as we got a taste of the Trooper’s story arc, and what it was like to be a part of Havoc Squad (a mercenary group, essentially). The mission assignment itself was simple: infiltrate a base on Ord Mantell and obtain a secret weapon known as the ZR-57. Though, during this mission, we interacted with other members of our squad, talked with the locals to pick up side-missions along the way, and even decided the fate on some of the guards in the base — all with spoken dialog for every character (even ours). Adding that level of immersion in an MMO is huge; it felt like we were playing Knights of the Old Republic all over again (that’s a good thing).




Eurogamer:

It seems to have been rebalanced somewhat in the last few months – or at least, the Trooper is a little less destructively overpowered than the Inquisitor was. I don’t die, but my health bar gets whittled down dangerously low by extended scrums with four or five of the separatists I’ve been sent to fight. “We don’t want you to have to wait until you hit the level cap to feel powerful,” Jake Neri, a producer for the game on the LucasArts side, tells me. “We want you to feel heroic and powerful right from the get-go.




Be on the lookout for more hands-on articles coming this week!

SWTOR in PC Gamer UK Magazine


When I dropped by the supermarket this weekend I noticed that one of the magazines had a familiar Sith Warrior (this one) on the cover. And indeed, what I found was PC Gamer UK's April 2010 issue, which they've labeled "The MMO issue". And indeed it is, with articles looking at WoW: Cataclysm, a number of future MMOs, rating a number of current MMOs against each other, a free trial for EvE Online on the cover DVD and a number of other articles. But the main article of interest is a six-page article, titled "Tour de Force" looking at Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Not that there's much of any new information in it. Considering when the magazine was published it can't even cover the presentation given last week during GDC. Though it's still a nice read.

I won't include scans of the article because I'm sure they'd not be happy with that. But I can briefly walk you through it and highlight what it talks about.

The article starts off talking about how you can make story decisions as in previous BioWare games, but this time you can bring friends and discuss the big decisions. The article notes how incredibly huge the game is, including a quote from James Olhen on how they're "creating more content than Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 1, Dragon Age, and Knights of the Old Republic put together, and throw in Baldur's Gate too." It also mentions how it has more dialog already than both Mass Effect games put together, and how when it's done it'll have more recorded dialog than all their (17, including expansions) games combined.

The article then goes on how, with so much story and voiceover, it is tempting to think that The Old republic will be a "pseudo MMO" much like Champions Online, relyign heavily on instancing. But according to James Olhen The Old Republic doesn't work that way. "Our public areas are part of one contiguous world," Olhen says. "Not just our cities -- 90% of the game, actually, will be a public area where you can run into other players." According to the article James compares server size with WoW servers, noting that some instancing is used for the more complex and stories and personal missions. "But missions that are group-oriented, that you can do with your friends, those'll take place in public areas."

As the article goes on to explain one should probably see it more like your traditional WoW-style MMO, except that instead of boring text boxes with quest descriptions you get Mass Effect 2-style cinematic conversations. In fact, ME2's lead cinematic designer Armando Troisi is on the ToR team now.

The article goes on a bit more about the cinematics and story telling, noting how every class has its own story. Olhen compares it to Dragon Age's origin stories, only going all the way through the game. It also talks about how you can recruit NPCs to fight by your side (though it doesn't mention that you can only take one of them with you at a time). You'll be introduced to one early in the game, but will meet others you can recruit later on. These companions have their own personal stories which, because the companions are unique to your class, can tie in to your class' story as well.

Olhen also talks about whether you might run into another player with the exact same companion. "it was one of our concerns early on in design," Olhen admits. "But you're not going to have identical companion characters. We're thinking of ways to make sure you can customise them so you don't get confused, so you don't get the Chewbaccas mixed up."

It then talks about how your class determines your story, your voice, your companions and your abilities, but that you get choice further down the line in your abilities. At oen point you can evolve into one of two more specialized classes. The example given is for the Sith Inquisitor; either a Darth Maul path with the dual-bladed lightsaber or the Emperor Palpatine path concentrating more on Force powers. A sidebar also mentions the choices for a Jedi Knight; either a tougher heavy armor warrior or a damage dealer with two lightsabers.

The article talks about how even after that choice of path you can still customize your abilities further; "There are certain powers that you can unlock or have locked away from you as you level up."

The thing that the writer of the article seems to be most worried about is the visuals of the game. He likes the style of the environments, but finds the characters "rather ugly" and "plastic-wigged, big nosed". Which has been my main complaint with the game as well. The article blames it on the amount of content that they'll have to create, particularly since the team is apparently not that much larger than the Mass Effect 2 team was. "it's not like we're double."

it talks a bit about the combat and how it's pretty much just "whittling people's hitpoints down -- like most MMOGs, but unlike other BioWare games". it points to the developer walkthrough video to let you judge for yourself. It talks about how fighting and questing is going to be 90% of the gameplay, and how BiOWare isn't commenting much on the other 10%, though they note that it includes open world PvP, more structured PvP, crafting and endgame. The last one is said to include classic systems, but also something brand new "that hasn't been done in an MMO before". They still want you to be questing at endgame though as they don't want it to be completely different from what you've been doing.

The article concludes with how they're hoping for an MMO that doesn't ape WoW, and that The Old Republic might just be it.

There's also a sidebar on voice acting, with a picture of Jennifer Hale (who voiced Bastila in KotOR and female Shepard in the Mass Effect games). In The Old Republic she'll apparently be playing a Republic Trooper (and it doesn't say whether that's an NPC or whether she'll do the voice for the player character). The sidebar also notes how they've pretty much tapped out Hollywood and how they've got voice talent from England as the Imperials all have to have a British accent.

And that's pretty much it. The only thing I glossed over a bit is the opening paragraph. Not that it includes any details at all, but I just though that it was hilarious. I hope that PC Gamer doesn't mind me sharing that bit with you; enjoy.
You remember the scene: Luke severs Darth Vader's hand in a stroke of poetic justice, but pauses before the kill. He could rid the galaxy of a villain, or give his dad a chance at redemption. He hesitates.

The emperor cackles. He hesitates. Vader looks around nervously. He hesitates. A crowd of stormtroopers gather, shuffling uncertainly. He hesitates. His eyes glaze over.

Somewhere behind the scenes, Harrison Ford is tapping away furiously to Mark Hamill.

"dude just kill him already lol"

"stfu he's my dad"

"cmon man we've been on this quest every night this week, lets just turn it in and hit the vendors"

"i need the lightside points, dick, im like this close to getting Force Heal"

"heal? ur kidding, right? dude when i roll jedi imma be all about the LIGHTNIN. LIGHTNIN, bro."

"u think i dont need heal? ok, hands up who lost their hand. oh thats right, i can't put my hand up CAUSE I LOST MY HAND."

"u got robo hand, thats like +5 STR. whats the matter, too cold for Luke's private time? u know the dark side always has Force Grip for that ;)"

"stfu"

"im nailin ur sister"

* Mark Hamill has disconnected.
:-)

Thanks Tom Francis for writing that.

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